Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and DraftStreet Optimized Rosters

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The Best of the Best

LeBron James - On the surface, this doesn't seem like one of LeBron's best matchups. The Bucks sit 11th in defensive rating, and they are only allowing opposing small forwards to shoot a .451 effective field goal percentage (eFG%) against them this season. But, of course, that's mostly with Luc Richard Lots of Names Mbah a Moute starting. Unfortunately for the Bucks and luckily for every LeBron fantasy player, Marquis Daniels and 106 defensive rating will start in his place. The only player on the team with a higher defensive rating is Brandon Jennings at 107. Take one guess as to who will getting the ball a lot tonight.

Kevin Durant - Just read Matt Keith's article from this morning concerning how bad the Magic are defensively. 26th in defensive rating, 23rd in defensive eFG%, dead last in forcing turnovers, 23rd in offensive rebound percentage... yeah, I have very few worries about Durant tonight, especially in formats (hi, Fan Duel!) where his cost is relatively low.

Paul George - Usually Pacers players don't make our optimized rosters; their snail's pace and 20th ranked offensive efficiency makes them usually less valuable than their record would make them seem. However, tonight lines up to be the perfect storm for Paul George. The Lakers run at the fourth-most possessions per 48 minutes in the NBA, they allow opposing small forwards to shoot a high .519 eFG% from the field, and they won't have Kobe available to slide over and defend him if he gets hot.

Top Mid-Range Values

Andrew Bogut - 28 or more minutes in five of his past six games; Andrew Bogut is back, folks. And before his cost shoots up once again, it's time to get on board: Bogut has not put up less than eight rebounds in each one of those six games. The points haven't been there for Bogut, but that may change tonight against Chicago. The Bulls are 23rd in defensive rebounding percentage (allowing for some easy put-backs), and they allow centers to shoot .500 eFG% against them (.026 better than anywhere else on the floor).

Jeremy Lin - Ricky Rubio is on fire lately... well, everywhere but defensively. In his past four games, against the not-so-murderer's-row of opposing point guards containing George Hill, Cory Joseph, Darren Collison, and Ty Lawson, Rubio has only allowed an offensive rating of less than 111 once (Collison's ORtg was 111). How, then, will he fare defending a point guard that loves to shoot like Lin? My guess: not so well. Lin has struggled at times against Minnesota this season, but I expect a return to the mean considering his seven straight games in double-digit points and Minnesota's 22nd defensive eFG%.

Luol Deng - The Warriors have been improving recently on defense; over the past three weeks, their defensive rating has jumped from 20th to 16th in the NBA. But then again, Luol Deng has been improving as well: he has five straight-double digit scoring games while averaging six rebounds per game over that span. With Draymond Green a game-time decision and Harrison Barnes and his 107 defensive rating likely to get more playing time, expect Deng to be able to take advantage of the Golden State defense.